Apparatus for tanning.



A. VANDENWEGHE 64 A. DHUYVETTERS.

' APPARATUS FOR TANNING.

APPLICATION FItED JAN. 5. 1917.

Patented July 17 1917. I

.3 SHEETSSHEET I.

A. V-A'NDVENWEGHE & A. DHUYVETTERS.

APPARATUS FOR TANNING.

APPLICATION FILED IAN-5.1917.

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Patented July 17, 1917- s SHEETS SHEET 2.

- A .e I 1 A 1 in 11' I A. VANDE-NWEGHE & A. DHUY-VETTER-S.

APPARATUS FOR TANNlNGE APPLICATION HLED JAN.5,1917.

s SHEI'ETSFSHEET a.

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I I IN fiuqusTY DhuYveTevs WITNESS clenweghe ADIEL VANDENWEGHE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND AUGUST DHUYVETTERS, OF RIDGE- FIELD PARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO IDEAL COONEY DRESSING & DYEING COMPANY, IN CL, 01'! PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR. TANNING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 17, 1917.

Application filed January 5, 1917. Serial No. 140,699.

the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the treatment of flexible materials by liquids, as in the tanning of hides or skins, and particularly to those methods in which it is a necessary condition to the success of the treatment that the liquid be kept up to a certain temperature.

In one method of tanning hides, since heating the tanning liquid with the hides therein is detrimental to the best results, it is necessary for the hides to be removed every time the liquid is brought up to the desired temperature. For instance, the liquor is heated and the hides placed therein; then, when reheating is agaln necessary, the" hides are removed and the heating of the liquor effected, whereupon the hides are returned to the liquor; and so on, several times, until the aggregate time the hides are in the liquor is sufficient to complete the tanning process. The hides cannot be removed and returned to the liquor en masse, or a number at a time, because as an incident to handling they will adhere together, which resultsin some of the hides being in places not perfectly acted upon by the liquor. Hence the entering of the hides into the liquor and removal therefrom has to be efiect'ed in a one-by-one manner, which is a slow and tediousoperation, requiring the employment of a number of attendants.

Our object by the present invention is to simplify the tanning and similar treatments where several heatings of the liquor of treatment is necessary and to reduce to the minimum the laborand the number of attendants required, obtaining, at the same time, uniform tanning results as to each hide. This object we have attained by employing a novel apparatus, one form of which by way of example is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein,

Figure 1 is a transverse sectional view of a building containing the apparatus which is shown also in transverse section;

Fig. 2 is a plan of said apparatus; Fig. 3 is a front elevation thereof, partly 1n section; 4

Fig. f is a plan on a larger scale than Fig. 2, partly in section; and,

Figs. 5 and 6 are'vertical sectional views on lines 5-5 and 6-6 of Fig. 4 looking in each case in the direction of the arrow adjacent the section line.

Along one side of and within the building a a series of alined vat-structures is built, each being constructed with four upright walls I), rectangular-1y arranged andreaching below the floor c of the building, a lower bottom wall at below the level of the floor, and an upper bottom wall e above such level, so that there result two vats in each vat structure, one above the other. Over the lower vat is arranged a runway 7 which is substantially level with the floor 0, there being an opening 9 in the front wall of the vat structure formed to reach upward from the floor level more or less to the level of the bottom of the upper vat and having suitable width.

The tanning is accomplished in the upper vat, the lower vat being employed for heating the tanning liquor. Heating means 71. is shown in each lower vat, being in the present instance acoil of piping extending from a steam pipe line i that is arranged under a platform j projecting from the front walls of the series of vat structures over the openings 9 therein. For transferring the tanning liquid to the lower vat for heating and then returning the same to the upper vat we provide the following instrumentalities:

One or more drain outlets 70 for the liquor are provided in the bottom of the upper vat, being shown in the present instance as simple holes provided with stoppers or plugs la and arranged at the back corners of the upper vat; they are preferably separated from the main part of the vat by the screens Z to keep the hides :from being drawn into the holes 70 when draining. When the tanning liquor cools the attendant removes the plugs ic, allowing the liquor to flow down into the lower vat.

A stand-pipe m extends from the bottom of the lower vat through the bottom of the upper vat and to a level above the maximum liquid level therein, being preferably covered by a mushroomshaped cap 0%; it contains an upwardly directed injector 0 connectedwith the steam-line. 2'. When the liquor, having been delivered to the lower vat, has been heated to the desired temperature therein, the steam is admitted to the injector by turning the valve p, resulting in the heated liquor being drivenup into the upper tank, the plugs is" having been of course again placed in stoppering relation to the holes is." i

While thehides are undergoing the tanning process in the upper vat it is preferred to keep the liquor and the hides therein 1n motion, so as, to insure thoroughness and uniformity of the tanning action. This may beaccomplished by. the rotary agitator g which dips into the, liquor and may be driven by the means 1", shown in the drawin s.

l 'hetanning liquid concentrate is conveyed through pipe 8 from the tank t, to

which water. may be delivered from the valved pipe a. From this, pipe leads a branch pipe 1) having a series of valved outlets w,one over each; upper vat in the series. the pipe of water may be allowed to entereach upper vat for washing the hides after. the tanning process is completed. Each upper vat has an outlet 00 for draining oil? the washing water, the same being equipped with a. drain pipe y which leads to a waste pipe e. .There is a plug or stopper 2 for this outlet which is tubular (Fig. 6). The plug-being in stoppering relation in the outlet the upper vat can be flooded, the overflow runningoifthrough the plug, and when the washing is completed the plug is. withdrawn, so that the washing water can drain tothe waste pipe. I

. In the bottom of each upper vat is a rela tively large outlet 3 having a plug 4. Through this outlet the hides are adapted tobedelivered, when the treatment and the washing thereof iscompleted, into a suitable receptacle ,5 adaptedto be run in on the runway f under the outlet 3 to receive the hides,

.In the use of the apparatus, the concentrate is run into the upper vats, with water from the pipette properly dilute it, the

tanning liquor resulting being allowed to flow to the lower vats by withdrawing the plugs 7r. Infthe lower vats the liquor is heated to the proper temperature by the heating means h. The steam is then admitted to" the injectors and,the plugs 70 being returned to stoppering relation to the holes 70, the liquor is returned to the upper vats. The hides are then placed in the uppervats for a suitable length of-time and when it is necessary to re-heat the liquor, the plugs are again removed to allow the tanning liquor to return to the lower vats and be there re-heated, the hides remaining in the upper vats. \Vhen the liquor has been re-heated, it is returned to the upper vats by the injectors so as to continuev the tanning process. These steps are repeated until the tanning of the hides is completed. The alternate draining of the tanning liquor from the tanning vats for the purpose of heating it separately from the hides and then returning it to the tanning vats after re-heating effects, a great saving in time and labor over the method now employed, which consists in removing the hides one by one from the tanning liquor in order to heat the same, as will be obvious, After the tanning has been completed, the tanning liquor having been run into the lower vats or allowed to run by outlets y to the waste 2 by withdrawing plugs 2, the water fromthe pipe '0 is turned into the upper vats, and; the plugs 2 being in stopperingrelation to the outlets a; it overflows said tubes and drains otl' theretl rough to the waste pipe 2, the washing in this way being continued till the tanning liquor remaining on the hides has been sufiiciently carried away. Thereupon plugs 2 are removed and the vats drained of the washingwater. Finallv, thc hides being new tanned and washed, the receptacles 5 are run through the openings g ontothe runways 7, the plugs 4 are removed and. the

hides raked to the openings 3, where'they.

fall into the receptacles, by whichthey may to receive further treatment.

Having; thus fully described our inven tion, whatwe claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In an apparatus for treating hides and similar materials with. liquors, the combination of a vat to receive the liquor of treatment and in which to treat the materials, a liquor heating vat under the first vat, the first vat having a drain to the second vat, means to heat, the liquor in the second vat when the same has been. drained from the first vat intothe second vat, means to deliver the heated liquorback from the second vat into the first vat,the first vat having an outlet in its bottom for the materials, and means under said outlet'and over the second vat to receive a receptacle for the materials delivered from said outlet. 3

2. In an apparatus for treating hides and similar materials with liquors, the combination of a liquor receivingstructure comprising upr ght side-walls and upper and lower vat-bottom walls, the side walls with said, bottom walls forming an upper vat to receivefirst vat having a liquor drain to the second vat, means to heat the liquor in the sec ond vat When the same has been drained.

from the first vat into the second vat, means to deliver the heated liquor back from the second into the first vat, the first vat having an outlet in the bottom for the materials, and means under saidv outlet and over the ADIEL VANDENWEGHE. AUGUST DHUYVETTERS.

lllopies of this patentmay -be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, JD. 012." 

